Interview: How to be local and follow global rules
August 15, 2013 | BY
clpstaffJo Xu, General Corporate Counsel in Shanghai for the British chemicals and precious metals company Johnson Matthey, talks to David Tring about her legal career, Matthey's increasing legal team and how the Employment Contract Law is affecting her work
Can you explain your legal career to date?
I started my legal career in 2004 with Fangda Partners in Shanghai. I soon moved in-house in the fashion industry and worked for the largest luxury group, LVMH, as an IP specialist for around two years mainly covering their brand protection projects in greater China. In 2006, I decided to move back to private practice to enhance my legal skills and joined the well-known IP focused UK firm Lovells, where I earned solid experience in patent litigation and commercial IP counseling. After a full busy year, I was introduced to Foley & Lardner to help with establishing their new China representative office. From working with many US Foley partners for cross-border projects, I gained a broad experience from IP to general corporate and gradually established my interest in business law.
I took a brief time out to do my LLM and Business Administrative Certification at Northwestern Law School and Kellogg Business School after three years at Foley. Upon graduation, I was persuaded by Foley's senior partner Sharon Barner, who is now VP and general counsel in Cummins, to rejoin Foley & Larder's Chicago office as an associate. However, due to family reasons, I decided to move back to China and luckily got the offer from Johnson Matthey (JM). I started this job in 2012 as corporate counsel but shortly after that I was told to take over the China general corporate counsel role to cover all the business units in JM and joined the JM China management committee.
How do you interact with the rest of Johnson Matthey's legal team?
We have more than 40 lawyers all over the world and we work very closely with our colleagues in other countries when we have global transactions. Also, we team up to serve our global key customers where local law perspectives and global approaches are both important. From the business side, if there are new projects in the pipeline for China, I will be involved from an early stage together with our legal colleagues in the US or Europe to provide legal advice to support the business expansion. Johnson Matthey has been in China for over 20 years, but I was their first in-house lawyer based in Asia. After only 18 months, we expanded the team to two in-house lawyers and one paralegal, taking care of 16 legal entities including three joint ventures (JVs) and four business units with billions in annual revenue, so obviously I receive great support from our global legal team.
What would you say is the most challenging aspect of your job?
| Under JM culture, the legal group is always acting as the project coordinator – Jo Xu, Johnson Matthey |
There are a lot of challenges in this role. We offer a wide range of products from fine chemical to emission control products, from metal trading to medical components and each business unit has totally different business models. How to recognise the risks associated with a certain businesses is not always easy. But the most challenging aspect is always how to be local but still follow global rules. Under JM culture, the legal group is always acting as the project coordinator, so I spend a substantial amount of time doing internal communications and reporting to make sure every project member is on the same page.
What legislation has affected your work the most this year?
The amended PRC Employment Contract Law (中华人民共和国劳动合同法) that came into effect on July 1 has created new challenges for the business, especially over labour dispatch workers and non-compete clauses. In response to the amended Law, we are updating non-compete agreements and confidentiality agreements.
What is a typical day like for you at Johnson Matthey?
We are a service centre, so my daily plan follows with the business needs. Normally, half of the day is meetings and the other half is desk work. This is a sensible description if I am not on a business trip. As JM is still in its expansion stage, projects-related work and external counsel communication sometimes will take a large part of my day. Conference calls with the UK and US always extend my day into the evening.
Will you be opening an R&D centre in China?
We are planning one R&D centre in Asia, but probably not in China. We still have concerns about China IP protection and IP law enforcement.
What qualities do you expect when working with external counsel?
I expect them to be knowledgeable, have integrity, practical local experience and a good reputation in the industry.
Further reading:
Opinion: Under greater scrutiny
China question: How do I terminate an employment contract in China?
Employment Contract Law: loopholes revealed
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